Gaz Membrane
Gazlene "Gaz" Membrane is the menacing younger sister of Dib Membrane and the anti-heroic tritagonist of the Invader Zim franchise. She is also the daughter of Professor Membrane. Known for her dark, violent and antisocial personality, Gaz has frequently expressed her disdain for the rest of the human race, seeming to care about only two things in the world: pizza and video games. Few have been known to get between her and those two things and walk away unscathed. Appearance Gaz is 10-12 Earth years old (during seasons 1-2, including the unfinished episodes).107 Invader Zim Facts Everyone Should Know- (ToonedUp #170) | ChannelFrederator at YouTube In the show, Gaz wears a short black dress with striped gray sleeves, striped reddish leggings, black shoes, and a necklace in the shape of a skull. This led many fans to assume she was a Goth, but the executive producer, Jhonen Vasquez, did not view her as such, so he redesigned her appearance for the comic series in an attempt to change her impression with the fans. In the comic series, she now wears a teal t-shirt with a white pixelated video game design of what appears to be a rabbit skull on it, a black skirt, and thick gray boots, a look that is carried over into ''Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus''. When she was younger, she dressed similarly, but with the addition of a pink hair bow. Though her dress style is vaguely gothic in appearance, as we mentioned beforehand, the executive producer does not see her as such. The most unique characteristics of Gaz are her hair and eyes. Her purple hair, resembling a stylized bob cut, is cubic and fashioned into five spikes, resembling a set of fangs. While normally squinted, her eyes widen when she is surprised, enraptured, or deeply irritated, revealing them to be amber in color (though they were blue in the original pilot). Personality Gaz is best known for her short-tempered, creepy, dark, cynical, and antisocial nature, along with her obsessions over pizza and video games. If a person interferes with her, or with what she enjoys doing, she will often vow revenge, this means Gaz has a tendency to seek revenge on those who cross her... and she usually gets it. although whether or not she follows up on her vow depends on the situation. Two prime examples of her vengeful nature can be seen in "Battle-Dib" where she made sure Dib had a terrible time and couldn't accomplish his mission to see their father so he could show the Swollen Eyeball Network his findings on Zim just because he took the last slice of pizza and in "Game Slave 2", where she stalks and terrorizes Iggins in order to get back a handheld console that was stolen from her, this also makes her incredibly petty as she was even planning on "making Dib pay" for drinking the last soda during "The Nightmare Begins." In line with her dour nature, Gaz has rarely been seen smiling. The instances where Gaz has smiled were in "Parent Teacher Night" (while laughing at Zim and Dib's misfortunes), "The Wettening" (before dropping a water balloon on Dib), "Battle-Dib" (while watching Dib get beaten up and while waving at him) "Bloaty's Pizza Hog" (while waving at Zim), "Game Slave 2" (after getting her game back), "Mysterious Mysteries" (before knocking down Baby Dib’s blocks), "Gaz, Taster of Pork" (while sleeping, when sending her robotic toys after Dib, while saying that her toys eat human flesh, on a monitor showing her holding a hot dog, and after her father says "You’re my funny child") and in Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (when she and Dib are reunited with their father and when her father cooks the breakfast for her and her brother at the end). She also smiled a few times in the "Pilot", but given the many inconsistencies seen in it, its canonicity is dubious. Gaz cares little for most people and generally regards human interaction as nothing more than a means to an end. Several issues of the comics have shown her playing online with other gamers, although whether these are friends or simply another means to an end is unknown. Her attitude towards her brother, Dib, is a bit more complex. Although she frequently complains about his behavior, his voice and his desire to save the Earth from Zim, she still walks to school with him, sits next to him at lunchtime, and even partakes in chatter when he’s nearby, hinting that while she will still inflict vengeance upon him if he crosses a line, their behavior with each other simply reflects typical sibling dynamics: squabbling, but affable enough. Her opinion on Zim is probably slightly higher, while she thinks he's so bad at his job of invading, she at least acknowledges that he has powerful technology to destroy the planet but sees that he can't use it properly. Although she is often angry and bitter, her few interests have been known to coax a more positive side out of her. In ''Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus'', Gaz reveals that she's only tough on Dib because she knows he can take it and shows that she actually does care about her brother. Sightings Role in Invader Zim Gaz is the only person, with the exception of Dib, to recognize that Zim is an alien but doesn't care. In "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", she replied to Dib's comment on Zim with an indifferent "but he's so bad at it", and in "Gaz, Taster of Pork", she remarked that he's "too dumb to take over the Earth." Gaz often stays out of Zim and Dib’s conflicts, but on occasion, she has bailed out her brother - but only when it benefits her, like in "Bloaty's Pizza Hog" and "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever". Although she usually only plays a supporting role, often as the unwilling sidekick to Dib, she has been the main subject in some episodes of the show and issues of the comic. Abilities Throughout the show, Gaz has been shown to have several strange powers. These include, but are not limited to: offscreen teleportation, levitation, and some sort of pyrokinesis. On more mundane levels, she has also demonstrated the ability to pilot Irken ships and perform some type of martial arts (described in the "Ten Minutes to Doom" transcript as "ninja moves"). Although Steve Russel has stated that Gaz possesses some level of supernatural power, Vasquez has gone on record stating that Gaz has no genuine powers of any sort and that she is simply "someone you don't want to anger". If Gaz is a creation of Membrane’s, as Dib possibly is, then her more supernatural abilities, as well as her intelligence, could possibly be a result of her artificial nature. Facts of Doom *Gaz was voiced by Melissa Fahn in the original English version, and by Haruhi Nanao in the Japanese dub. In the German dub, she is voiced by Yvonne Greitzke, and in the Spanish dub, she is voiced by Ana Lobo.http://es.doblaje.wikia.com/wiki/Invasor_Zim Invasor Zim on doblaje wikia *Her voice actress, Melissa Fahn, has stated in the commentary for "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" that Gaz actually can show positive emotions and love others; she just does not like people interfering with her life and thinks she is better than others, hence her rotten and ill-mannered demeanor around most of the people she makes contact with. **Melissa also stated in the same commentary that Gaz is the smartest character, even more so than her own father, agreeing with Jhonen Vasquez. This seems to explain why, unlike Dib, she doesn't view Zim as an ultimate threat to Earth. *Ironically, in contrast to Gaz’s usual attitude, her voice actress, Melissa Fahn, is actually very pleasant and friendly. *Gaz was the third main character of the series to be introduced, the second human to be seen in the series, and the only female protagonist overall. *During the intro, Gaz breaks the fourth wall by putting her hand on the screen and brusquely shoving it aside. *Gaz's full first name is Gazlene, a play on the word gasoline. This play on words fits her personality rather well: like gasoline when ignited, Gaz has a very fiery temper when provoked. **She is one of the only main characters to have a full name with more than one syllable, or a name that is a wordplay. **The word "gaz" is also the name of a type of candy found in the Middle East. **The word, translated from Farsi, means "sap". **The word is also the French word for gas (as in the fuel). *Like Zim, Gaz is ambidextrous. She can be seen drawing with her right hand in "The Wettening" and with her left hand in "Bloaty's Pizza Hog". *Although her eyes are amber in color, they were supposed to be light blue, as they were in the Pilot. A coloring error led to her current eye color. **A few issues of the comic series give Gaz different eye colors - Issue 5 presents them as green, while her cameo in Issue 17 presents them as purple. *In an image on Nicktoons's official site , Gaz is seen sitting playing her Game Slave 2 in Zim and Dib's classroom in front of Ms. Bitters, who is growling at her. However, "Parent Teacher Night" and "Gaz, Taster of Pork" notably explains that she is in Mr. Elliot's class, so this was most likely an error or simply a way to show three of the four main characters in a picture. *Gaz and Dib are the only humans that know of the Irken Empire. *Her amethyst hair and amber eyes make her somewhat resemble Devi D from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. *Her hair prior to [[Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus!|''Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus!]] resembled the open jaw of an animal, adding to her intimidating and scary nature. *In some episodes, her height and size occasionally change, possibly due to some animation errors on the part of the artists. She is sometimes seen taller in her surroundings and other times shorter. The shape of her head can also be seen as angular or round in different episodes. *Gaz is a playable character in [[Nicktoons MLB|''Nicktoons MLB]], alongside Zim. Best used as a pitcher, her throw (which leaves behind a trail of cartoony skulls) is one of the fastest in the entire game. Her clothes are the same as in the show, only her dress has pinstripes, and she wears a red baseball cap, which transforms into a first baseman's helmet when she is at first base. **In these concept sketches by Aaron Alexovich, she is shown with a similar helmet. *Gaz appears in Nicktoons: Globs of Doom, with Melissa Fahn reprising her role. She can be rescued alongside her father in the Skool stage. When you rescue her, she actually congratulates you; however, she is not playable. *Unlike Dib who rants about Zim being an alien, Gaz told the Shadowhog in "Gaz, Taster of Pork" that he indeed was an Irken Invader and he seemed to believe her, this shows that Gaz has more credibility than her brother. *Interestingly and fittingly, since Gaz hates people but had a fondness for piggies, she made her first friend when she met the Shadowhog, which was ironically due to Dib cursing her with his spelldrive. *Gaz is the only character in the series that has ever gotten an onscreen kiss on the lips, albeit an unwanted one from GIR as seen in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl." *In "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", Gaz's anger and hatred are said by Jhonen Vasquez to be the cause of how she was able to fix the Tak Runner. If not taken as a joke, this could suggest that Irken ships can be fixed faster by intense emotion alone, which makes sense as at the time Gaz had a strong desire to inflict revenge on her brother. Alternatively, it could've simply been another of her unique abilities. *Gaz is one of three characters shown to scare or intimidate Zim, the other two being Sizz-Lorr and Hobo 678. *Gaz's original clothing style in the show bears a strong resemblance to that of Pepito the Antichrist, another creation of Jhonen Vasquez. *Gaz’s new outfit in the comics makes her look more like a gamer. *Of the four main characters, she has the least screen time in the series. Paradoxically, she's also the lead female character on the show. *In some aspects, Gaz could be considered a secondary antagonist of the show since she has made it harder for Dib to save the Earth in some occasions; while at the same time she also could be considered an anti-hero for helping save the planet, albeit against her will or with some reluctance. *Gaz is the character Jhonen Vasquez was the most excited to get back to writing for the comics. He said that she got the "least love in the series" and that she just "had a role to play, there really wasn't much room for her to be more of a person." *Jhonen also claimed that he likes her more in the comics since she's "more fleshed out" while in the show she was "a bit simple." *Vasquez has stated that the four main characters aren't evil, although with Gaz it can be hard to tell since she can be merciless towards anyone who interferes with her life which she seems to believe is "justified." *It can be said that Gaz hates humanity more than Zim does, but unlike him, she has no desire or motivation to cause its destruction. This is probably because, as mentioned above, she views human interaction as a means to an end and while she likes being alone, she acknowledges that without people around, there wouldn't be any pizza or video games, her main interests. **However in "Dibship Rising" she tried to destroy the Earth and by extension, the human race, this is the only episode where she attempted it. *Gaz is one of the four characters to have conquered the Earth, as she took over the planet while pretending to be Zim in Issue 21. The others were GIR in "The Trial", Emperor Zim in Issue 12 and Zim himself in Enter the Florpus. *Issue 40 shows that even in a universe where everyone is nice, Gaz can still be scary, as she's so overtly friendly that she forces people to partake in tea party sleepovers with her against their will. *Issue 44 reveals that Gaz is an excellent skier. *Gaz's eyes are open throughout ''Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus'' much more frequently than in either the show or the comics. *TruthShrieker (Issue 0) features the only time in the comics where Gaz is wearing her classic black dress from the show, during the "interview with Dib" where she's impersonating her brother. Gallery References See also *Dib and Gaz's Relationship *Gaz and GIR’s Relationship *Gaz and Professor Membrane's Relationship *Gaz and Zim's Relationship es:Gaz Membrana Category:Main Characters Category:Females Category:Humans Category:Dib's Family Category:Skool Students Category:Screenshots Category:Zim Enemies Category:Characters